Everyone has a different perspective- a different outlook on life. How we all choose to interpret the world we share depends on what lens we use. Our attitudes, choices, and actions are all affected by the angle and way we look out of our own lenses. My lifelooklens varies. One lens stays true to capture all the things in my world. I take pictures of EVERYTHING. I'm glad I do and don't mind if some think my pictures and ramblings are boring. This blog is a glimpse at life through my lens...

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Summer Breeze

Summer breeze, makes me feel fine!

Click PLAY for some Seals & Crofts Summertime Music to enjoy as you scroll on...

Though we mortals withered during the heatwave that crashed upon Tennessee this summer, these tomatoes thrived in my Aunt Tina & Uncle David's backyard. They somehow managed to soak in beating sun rays and three-digit temperatures to achieve ripeness, while we humans stayed poolside to maintain a more bearable level of homeostasis.

"Sweet days of summer the jasmine's in bloom July is dressed up and playing her tune

And I come home
from a hard day's work
and you're waiting there
not a care in the world

See the smile a-waitin' in the kitchen
food cookin' and the plates for two
Feel the arms that reach out to hold me
in the evening when the day is through

My little cousins, Kaycee and Katie, helped me spot fluttering butterflies/moths/flying things. I owe it to them that I was able to capture these pictures!

I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days -
three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty
common years could ever contain. -John Keats

Butterflies are self propelled flowers. -R.H. Heinlein

"Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do." -Oscar Wilde

Wisdom comes with the ability to be
still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. Being still,
looking, and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within
you. Let stillness direct your words and actions.

-ECKHART TOLLE, Stillness Speaks

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or
discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is
to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”
- Milan Kundera

“Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the
mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as
prayer.”
―
Dean Koontz,
False Memory

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers
is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely
as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. -Abram L. Urban

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed. -Walt Whitman

In a very simple sense I want everything that's in a
work to be there for the reason that it's needed. It's not an
ornamentation. It's not there because I thought it looked nice but
because it has to be there.
- Paul Cullen

"Our fear of death is like our fear that
summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit,
and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day."
- John Donne, 1620

Kaycee and Katie kept me company on my picture-taking walk through Aunt Tina and Uncle David's garden. They pointed out butterflies for me to photograph, but they were especially persistent about this pink rock's need to be preserved on film. The two little girls had painted a friendship rock and marked their initials with glittery lettering that glinted in sunlight. They were proud of their bright pink garden addition and I willingly granted their request to snap away! "But friendship is precious; not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life,
and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine." –
Thomas Jefferson

My Aunt Tina is super creative- you could say it runs in our family, I guess. (Mamaw, Mama and... hopefully, me.) Tina and her husband had seen a similar decorative wooden structure that bore a price tag unworthy of it's simplicity. Rather than purchase the way too overpriced item, they decided to get crafty and added some personalization to their artwork. I love this idea! David cut pieces of wood and family members contributed ideas for places to feature on each plank. This is such a sweet, sentimental creation that added bright summery appeal to their deck. I'm gonna copy this genius craftiness someday!

~ This post is dedicated to Kaycee and Katelyn. I wouldn't have gotten these pictures if I had not taken your advice! Your pink rock is fabulous... Also, this is dedicated to Tina and David who gave summertime happiness to our family this July. Thank you for everything! Love to you all. ~ Regina